“We want to avoid going backwards if we possibly can,” said Cooper, who resisted President Donald Trump’s demands to guarantee a packed GOP convention in Charlotte in August.

The governors’ attitudes mark a shift in the national view of the best way to respond to the virus that is still infecting more than 20,000 people in the U.S every day. State officials hesitant to pause gradually reawakening economies contend they are better equipped to identify and stamp out outbreaks than when Covid-19 emerged just a few months ago. They point out they’ve been stocking up on protective gear for health care workers, expanding the capacity to test for and track the virus, and monitoring outbreaks in meatpacking plants, nursing homes, prisons and other facilities that have been hot spots. They also bluntly acknowledge that the public has quarantine fatigue.

“I don’t know that anyone has the appetite for massive shutdowns again,” said Lisa Piercey, health secretary of Tennessee, which is among the states seeing reported cases and hospitalizations spike in the past two weeks. Should the state ultimately decide to reimpose restrictions, they would likely have “a more laser focus,” she said.

Without the political desire or public pressure to reimpose shutdown measures, public health experts worry these recent spikes could signal a steady burn of coronavirus infections through the summer, even as previously hard-hit areas like New York and New Jersey have gotten their outbreaks under control. They warn states could ultimately be forced to impose even harsher mitigation measures — like delaying school reopenings or implementing broader shutdowns — should infections spiral out of control.

“We always knew that once we returned back to the community, we had to do it carefully and that there would have to be a pause when we saw increases,” said Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association. “That should always have been understood.”

Most states began reopening their economies before meeting the White House’s nonbinding guidelines, which recommended a sustained decrease in cases and adequate testing, among other metrics. When the guidelines were released in April, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci suggested some states may need to reimpose restrictions if the virus rebounded.

Hutchinson of Arkansas told reporters Wednesday that he doesn’t believe the White House guidelines are “sacrosanct”, and he contends more expansive testing — and not lifted restrictions on churches and businesses — is responsible for higher case counts. But many public health experts say more testing can’t fully explain rising infection numbers, since hospitalizations are also increasing and a higher percentage of people are testing positive in many of those places.

It’s too soon to know if nationwide protests over police brutality in recent weeks will send case counts even higher, as public health officials fear. Though there already have been some reported cases among protesters, officials expect any increases from these demonstrations would begin appearing in the next week or two, since it can take up to two weeks before virus symptoms appear.

Still, some public health experts say they haven’t been as worried by spiking case counts. Ali Mokdad, a health metrics expert at the University of Washington, said it’s fine for governors to continue reopening as long as their states can do the testing, tracing and quarantining of infected patients.

“In general, we are heading in the right direction,” he said.

In Arkansas, infections jumped by one third in a week and hospitalizations have gone up nearly 90 percent since Memorial Day. Democratic state Sen. Greg Leding argues the state’s early reopening sent the message to residents that the worst of the pandemic had passed.

“People started taking fewer precautions and not being as careful — whether they were going to a restaurant or just hanging out with friends,” he said. “There was such a lack of clear messaging around the reopening and a lot of people took it to mean that everything was back to normal, when that was absolutely not the case.”

Though Hutchinson said earlier this week that his administration was “wrestling” with whether to delay the next phase of reopening, he announced Wednesday it would move ahead.

“Americans are on the move,” he said. “They can’t be tied down and they can’t be restrained. They don’t want the government telling them what to do.”

Some governors have expressed frustration that constituents aren’t following public health recommendations on physical distancing and masks, but they remain insistent they aren’t looking to shut down their states.

“If people would use their head and follow advice that’s been given to them repeatedly, we would not be having the hot spots and the rise we see here,” said South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. His state, among the last to shut down and the first to reopen, has seen average daily infection rates since late May double to over 400.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he doesn’t have second thoughts about opening campgrounds on Thursday, even as daily new cases have also doubled in his state. The Democratic governor said he feels the state can keep moving forward as long as ICU beds remain available. There were 68 coronavirus patients in ICU beds as of Tuesday, less than half of the state’s previous high in earlier stages of the pandemic.

“If that ICU number does significantly go up that’s when we really have to look at things,” Beshear said, without specifying what number would trigger alarm.

In Arizona, where coronavirus patients are landing in the ICU in record numbers and a growing percentage of tests are coming back positive, the state health department over the weekend instructed hospitals to “fully activate” emergency plans for the first time since March. There are no discussions about shutting down parts of the state, state health director Cara Christ told a local Fox station.

In Texas, which is reporting record coronavirus hospitalizations this week, Abbott said the spike in cases is expected and “largely the result of isolated hot spots in nursing homes, jails, and meat packing plants.” But local health officials disagree and said there’s a clear link between the state’s early reopening and the surge in cases, even if there are other contributing factors.

“We don’t know how much, but we do know people are mixing together and putting themselves at risk,” said Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County’s public health department. “We’re watching a number of metrics and they are all going in the wrong direction. It feels like we’re going back to where we were several months ago.”

Gary Herbert of Utah, the lone governor to slow down his state’s reopening amid surging infections, went against the advice of a state commission by extending current restrictions for at least another week.

“Common sense requires keeping our current health risk guidance in place,” he said in a statement. “A marked increase in disease incidence and in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 give us pause.”